Saturday, October 10th, 2015

Saturday, October 10^th, 2015
Pigeon Lake, Alberta

Mud Feet

Everyone needs a little downtime. I’m getting mine at Pigeon Lake. Yesterday, I had flown from Pittsburgh to Chicago, on to Edmonton, and then finally driven to a rustic looking resort where a European settlement began 175 years ago on Pigeon Lake. In this countryside retreat, called Rundle House, you can find bison bones on display which were found in the area along with a massive tooth left from a mastodon. Personally, my interest is strong in this. There is also a plaque on the wall with a quote on creativity which reads,

“The man who follows the crowd will usually get no further than the crowd. The man who walks alone is likely to find himself in places no one has ever been before.”

No author is credited here.

To fill the rooms of this building and some additional cabins are our members of Iskcon, the leaders actually. Here at this year’s annual gathering for Canada’s Thanksgiving, important strategies were discussed with messages along the lines of “what gets measured gets improved” and “the difference between a dream and a goal is a written statement”. Presentations were truly inspiring.

Now, Pigeon Lake is quite sizable and at one point in the day it was 20 degrees Celsius. I was tempted to go for a swim but by the time our meeting ended, that idea seemed less appealing. I did, indeed, stroll out to the water’s edge or what I thought was the water’s edge. The 20 foot wide beach was actually a depth of black muck. I sunk but not deep. I had seen enough old Tarzan movies in my youth to know what to do when stuck in quicksand. I leapt out fast, grabbed on to something and didn’t panic, knowing well that we’re not talking about some African soil here. Basically, I was happy to use my legs on this feet-easy day.

Frankly, it’s hard to sit at a chair for hours when your feet are accustomed to trekking 20 miles per day. My resolve is that it is short term. It is an austerity which is never a negative action on the part of a monk.

May the source be with you!

0.5 miles / 0.8 km

 

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